Prince of the Dancing Gypsies
by Stone Dragon Ruby
Summary: Kagome is the "run away" free labor working girl of a cruel family in Rome, until she discovers a theif in her masters home. Now, in order to clear her name she must follow him, but Gypsies can steal much more than gold.
1. Chapter 1 The Gypsies

Disclaimer; Inu-yasha is not mine! … That just about sums it up!

**Prince of the Dancing Gypsies**

This idea came to me when I went to an early Halloween party this year and borrowed my best friend's gypsy costume. I was mulling over DelKaidin's Broadway Universe stories and suddenly had the image of Inu-yasha dancing in gypsy clothing and his long black hair working rather well in the mental image.

Also, I had these pants on under the dress that, go figure, were red and looking like Inu-yasha's M. C. Hammer pants.

Anyway, the dancing idea came and how it could all work into a story.

"Until you find something worth dying for, you're not really living." -- Unknown

_Rome Italy_

_March of 1820_

Chapter 1

She still remembers the first day she heard the word that the gypsies were in town to celebrate Marti Gras. They were said to know how to breathe fire and tell you fortunes of your seven year future, ah but this…this was the tribe of gypsies run but the Prince of the Gypsies.

It was said that this tribe was run under the most wanted gypsy man in all Europe for engaging in witchcraft. Yet he could never be captured because of his ability to hide soon after his performance, not to mention it was said he had the power to make women swoon from his dancing. Thus it was also believed that his dancing could affect the senses and there by was also a part of his witchcraft.

Kagome, however, did not believe in any of this. She merely wanted to see the freedom she never had reflected in their eyes. The freedom to be wild, to see the world, to see…

"Kagome!" said a high pitched voice. "Child where are ye! There's work to be done in the kitchen."

Kagome looked out at Rome playing with the silver locket around her neck in her favorite tree in the gardens owned by her masters, The Lupo Family. She did not hear the old Varanese at first as she breathed silently and dreamed of the outer world; the world that existed beyond the walls of the Lupo lands.

"Kagome?" the fat old lady called again with a hiss in the back of her throat when she finished.

This time the black haired girl heard Varanese's calls and quickly jumped down the tree as quickly as she could before the old crone could find her. Though as usual, she was awaited at the bottom of the tree, seeing the same cold grey eyes and growling rotten teeth.

Kagome swallowed hard as she put her hands behind her back. "Varanese, ma'am?"

The woman's red cheeks looked like hot ambers with all the anger the old witch was holding in. They looked like red oranges since you could see the huge pores on her face. Her white hair was tied back with a wooden pin and an old straw hat. Her dress suited her well, a fine black silk dress that proved her widowhood since her husband died over the winter, though it clung to her fat body making her look like a black snowman with red oranges for cheeks.

"You foolish child! You've skipped out on your morning chores once again."

Kagome looked at her and shook her head. "No, Ma'am, I did them all like you said. I've cleaned the morning dishes from breakfast, I feed the horses in the stable, changed their hay, gathered the eggs, and I made the beds."

The old ladies eyes squinted as she held up one plump finger to Kagome's face. "Aye, but ye forgot to milk the second cow as you always do. That is your new chore, as I told you yesterday."

Kagome's jaw dropped as she tried to make an excuse, but Varanese stopped her before a word could leave her lips. "You know what I told you last night, Kagome! If the chores were not done ye would not be allowed to go into town. That is it!"

With that the old crown stomped off leaving Kagome steaming, but she didn't give up. "This is not fair! You know this is Fat Tuesday, the last day that the gypsies will be in Rome. I've done all my work all the other days and you refused."

The old lady turned, "Enough! Ye are not allowed to go! If ye argue with me again with this, I will order the head master to whip you're back until it scars."

With that Kagome closed her mouth as the old witch's eyes glared at her until she knew not a single word would come out of her mouth.

When the old crone left and returned to the mansion, Kagome stomped her feet and tried to keep herself from crying. Of course none of this went un-noticed by the gardener.

"You do indeed daydream far too much, Kagome," Alessandro said as he took a break form his work and sat down on the stone path to wipe away the sweat on his brow and smile at her.

Kagome looked at him as his chest rose and fell with his silent laughter. With a long sigh he picked up his bush clippers and continued his work. Kagome sat on a stone bench and pulled at the tares in her worn out brown skirt and played with her feet as she wiggled her big toe that popped out of the old black shoes showing the dirt under her toe nail that had gathered there from all the hard work she had done that morning.

"I've waited a whole year to see the gypsies in town after I was refused last year and the year before that. Varanese keeps saying she will let me go, but then always finds a reason not to let me go."

"Eh," Alessandro moaned, "she fears that you will fall under their spell and run away with them. Then she would be one hand less of free labor."

Kagome removed the old bonnet from her head that made her feel like a nun. "I want my father to return and go back to my family. Surly he's found a job somewhere by now, wouldn't he?"

Alessandro looked at her and shook his head. "Child, you have never seen your father's face, and you go on a tale Old Man Lupo used to tell you to keep you working in his house, believing that your father would return here. I've told you what I believe."

Kagome laughed, "I know, I know…They want me to stay so they have a free hand for their labor."

The middle aged man nodded his head as his clippers cut the bushes into shape with bits of green plant flying into the air.

He then stopped and curled his finger toward Kagome, silently calling her to him. She knelt down beside him as he reached into his pocket and handed her a single gold coin. "There be a carriage that will be taking the grandson, Kouga into town today. Pay the coachman with this gold piece and I assure you that he will be able to sneak you into the back trunk and take you into town. Make sure, however, that the young master doesn't see you or he will surly tell his grandmother of your short visit into town."

Kagome waited until she could see sunlight again and was glad to see it once the coachman had opened the chest that rested on the back of the carriage.

He looked at her as Kagome pulled and old ragged cape over her shoulders. It was black, but it had turned a dirt brown from it's over exposure to the sun. It was torn as well at the bottom from the many times it had caught on something and Varanese had pulled it free in order to keep her moving and doing her chores outside.

Kagome looked to the coachman as he looked at the store Kouga had not too recently entered. "You have but an hour, Kagome. Kouga will be meeting up with us just down the street from where the gypsies will be. Be careful while you are there, and do not miss us or you will be in trouble."

She nodded and then pulled her hood over her face. "I'll make sure I meet you there."

Kagome picked up an old basket and immediately ran down the streets of Rome to find the gypsies. She listened for music, or anything that could catch her senses and tell her where they were.

She then found herself in the open Piazza of St. Peter's where a horse drawn coach was set up with no name on the wooden boards. The two huge Clydesdales with black coats and long braided manes stood like stone as their master came to calm them and water them with an old beat up bucket.

A crowd soon began to form around them and Kagome quickly rushed into the piazza as people talked and looked at each other. It was then as the horses were given two bags of feed tied to their muzzles, and the man dressed in a green cape then climbed up to the top of the cart too over look the gathering crowd.

"Come one, come all, Ladies and Gentlemen of all shapes and sizes. Come to a show that will amaze you, that will show you things you never dreamed possible for man to do, and also to discover what you may not know."

Kagome pushed through the crowd to get as close as she could as the man continued to talk to the crowd. Her brown eyes watching as the green fabric of his cape flowed with his body movements. It was like watching him dance with the wind.

"And now, my friends, I give you the most sought after Gypsy in all of Europe known for his dancing and his ability to answer and tell any fortune you wish to know. Dear friends of Rome, I give you…The Prince of the Gypsies, himself…"

Suddenly, he threw his fist into the air and with a bright flash of light there was smoke appearing from the ground as it surrounded the coach and everyone blinked in awe. As the carriage fell open as streamers of paper and gold dust flew into the air.

Then the smoke curled and disappeared as a figure stood rapped in a green sheet embroidered with gold. All that could be seen were a pair of deep red pants that bagged and were tied a few inches above the ankles. On the right foot could clearly be seen a gold bracelet. The sheet opened to reveal a pair of two deep purple eyes and a long mane of black hair that ran down the full length of his back in a long loose braid that only truly began at his broad shoulders. The shirt he wore exposed his chest and covered his arms in a black silky fabric that cuffed at his wrists.

There was the beat of a drum and the sound of bells toning as a flute played. His movements were flowing and graceful, and Kagome soon discovered why his dancing was considered sinful. He seamed to move like a crane and at other times he seemed to be almost flirtatious. His hips had a motion that hypnotized one woman in the front for too long before she fainted.

Kagome laughed at the sight but returned her gaze to the man on the small stage. He now almost seemed to play with his sheet of green and gold cloth trying to hide his face from being seen completely. The mysteriousness in his movements and the music added to her enchantment.

The cloth now fell to his side as his grace continued, but now the movements and steps were faster. Many women were still watching his lower half as it moved, Kagome was taken by the look of an almost cocky smile on his face, yet the look in his eyes seemed to be watching for any sudden movement in the crowd.

Suddenly, there was a blast of fire from behind him and a man with patterns painted on his skin appeared in similar pants like the man who was dancing before them, only he was bald with no hair on his face that could be seen. His white pants seemed to accent the black pant of his body.

Men and women parted to make way for two woman contortionists as they amazed the crowd, and show had truly began. There were jugglers and a woman who was showing off her dancing bear. Tents were hosted into the air for fortunes to be told and other such things.

It had only been a moment before Kagome had gotten caught up with the fire breather and the dancing bear that she had realized she had lost track of the dancing man. The rest of the crowd had seemed to all but forgotten him, but she.

Kagome went to the tents too look around as old gypsy women pulled out their crystal balls and rocks that told fortunes yet to come to the people that had gathered to them.

Kagome then found one lone tent in the back that was undisturbed and slowly Kagome crept toward it, and opened it. "Hello?"

She then stepped into the white tent and found on a wooden chair the green and gold sheet of cloth that the young man had been dancing with not too long ago. She picked it up and looked over the detail of the cloth.

"Hey!" a low voice called out, and Kagome jumped when her eyes met a huge muscular man that could have well passed for a giant. "You are not permitted to be here."

Just as she began to back away in fear a white dog popped his head out of a bag of horse feed and shook his head as he looked at Kagome and smelled something wonderful coming from her basket.

The dog yipped and ran over to her and quickly began to drool and try to steal her basket. The large man looked at the dog as he begged on his hind legs and pulled at the hem of her skirt.

Soon, another head came from the back of the tent and found the dog pulling and whining at the girl's skirt. "Ranger, down!"

The dog looked at his master and then laid down on the grown with a short whimper and a lick of his large black nose. He flicked his large fluffy white ears and then waited.

It was then that Kagome realized she had found the man who was dancing as he walked over to the dog and gave him a piece of dried meat to gnaw at. His eyes then turned to look at the girl who was still frightened of the angry large man before her.

"I tried to get rid of this intruder, Inu-yasha, but Ranger seemed to be acting so strange I didn't know what to do. You know that stupid half wolf-dog of yours hates me, in fact come to think of it…" the man's words trailed off as his confused gaze turned to look at the girl before them.

"Andrei, don't worry about it," Inu-yasha said as he turned and looked at the girl. Ranger sat not too far from her side and whimpered as he sniffed her hand and began to lick it.

The large man walked through the tent as Inu-yasha watched the girl relax and open her hand to Ranger's rough tongue. She laughed silently and placed her basket down as Ranger panted and whimpered as his nose once again tried to sneak into the basket she had carelessly put down beside her.

Inu-yasha watched her for a moment, not exactly sure why the girl was there in the first place.

Of course Kagome was still asking herself that question as to why she had refused the many fortunetellers to ask the one that danced before the crowd. She then looked up at him as he examined the curious behavior Ranger had never show before.

"I've never seen Ranger take to anyone so quickly. In fact I've never seen him take to anyone at all."

The young man got up and removed the black shirt he was wearing. "What brings you crawling into this tent? You've obviously here for something other than Ranger's appetite."

Kagome found herself staring for a moment at the muscular back that was suddenly exposed to her. She widened her eyes and then looked away as Inu-yasha slipped behind a sheer curtain to pull a change of clothing. She turned her back to the curtain as Ranger poked his nose around in her basket.

"Umm rumor has it that you can tell fortunes better than anyone in Europe."

"Nope!" he said all of the sudden. Kagome jumped and looked over her shoulder for a moment before remembering he was changing and jumping back. A second later he walked out with a pair of purple bagged pants similar to the ones he had worn before. Yet now he had a sash wrapped and tied just above his hips, along with a peasant top with a large rip in the top of his right sleeve that showed his shoulder and the top of his bicep.

Kagome removed her old cloak from her head and let it rest around her shoulders. "Then, who are you?"

He looked at her as Ranger raided into her basket, finding the piece of stale bread she had stashed away in the basket.

Inu-yasha watched Ranger eat it happily and then walked into his mock of a dressing room. "I like to believe I'm the best there is."

He sat down on a pillow and crossed his legs as he took out a wrapped package. The cloth was red and lightly shiny with white and gold lines that seemed to interweave with each other. When the knot that held the cloth around the object inside was undone, Inu-yasha pulled out a deck of old tarot cards that had browned at the side and smelled of sage and incense.

He then handed the deck to her. "Focus on your question and keep your head clear of all thought as you shuffle the cards."

Kagome took the cards into her hands, feeling strange that she was holding a real deck of cards that would tell her the future. Slowly she mixed the cards around thinking of the one question she wanted answered.

Slowly she put the deck down, taking a moment to admire the back of the cards and the decorated white and red designs. He then took them into his hands and separated the cards into three piles. "Now put the piles back together in a different order."

Kagome nodded and went to reach for the middle pile and then placed them together with the middle pile still on top, the first second and the third on the bottom.

"Wait!" she said, and turned to her basket, "The dog, he ate my only way of paying you. I have no way of payment for this."

Inu-yasha picked up his cards and looked at her, "Ranger never takes to strangers the way he takes to you, and besides that I would have given that bread to him anyway. I usually prefer a different mode of payment."

Kagome ran to her basket and picked it up to find anything of value. "I don't have any money with me. Please, I must have an answer of some sort to this question. My whole life depends on this."

Inu-yasha made no motion to place the cards into their order, and Kagome sighed heavily. Ranger looked at her and licked her hand with a whimper.

She pulled her cloak over her head. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

When she had turned around, Inu-yasha merely said, "May you find an answer then, to whatever it is you seek."

Kagome parted the opening of the tent. "I just want to know if I will ever escape the hell my father left me in when I was young."

She turned and looked at him. "I wanted to know, if there was any hope for me? Will I ever find hope or happiness again?"

In a moment, Inu-yasha saw the sadness in her eyes and all the pain. Then she forced a laugh and pet Ranger on the head one last time. "I'm sorry; you don't need to hear me talk about this."

With that Kagome stroked the top of Ranger's head and walked out of the tent.

Ranger whimpered and then slinked over to Inu-yasha and lay down in front of him in the same place Kagome had been not a moment before. "What? She couldn't pay; you know I don't do anything for free."

Ranger groaned and picked up his head as he looked at him with his head cocked to the side.

Inu-yasha shook his head and then for the heck of it, placed the cards into a simple readable spread. Yet, as he placed each card down, he saw things he never saw in his spreads.

"The Hanged Man…Four of Cups…what in hells name is going on here?"

As each card was placed down the more things began to look hopeless for the girl.

"Five of Disks…Eight of Swords…Oppression and a feeling of being trapped? She can get out of it but something is holding her back."

Ranger began to whimper when suddenly the church bells began to ring at the hour. It was then that Inu-yasha turned over the final card in the spread.

Ranger whimpered and ran into the bag of feed to hide, and Inu-yasha shook at what he saw. "The Tower…She's practically got every bad card in my deck."

Ranger's head poked out of the bag. Inu-yasha then gathered his cards together and shuffled them as quickly as possible as the bells rang. "How can she get away from this?"

Slowly, he placed four cards down; around one central card was a chance at happiness. Death that meant transformation, the Empress that meant a new life, The Fool that meant there was another path to take, and The Magician that meant spiritual growth, and the last card in the middle which baffled him the most.

The Lovers…

Well, there's the first chapter! I hope everyone will get a kick out of this and tell me what they think. I'm sure there are things that need work on. But believe me many things will uncover themselves in later chapters.

This is a story inspired by Broadway Baby and Broadway Bound, so I will be posting this on the Broadway Series Club user page.


	2. Chapter 2 The Accused

Disclaimer; Inu-yasha is not mine…so deal with it!

**Prince of the Dancing Gypsies**

**Chapter 2**

She had missed them. She was sure of that as soon as she has seen the carriage leave the main gate of Rome. Now she ran to her mistress's estate in order to find a way to get an alibi before her mistress found her. Yet the weak feeling in her back told her it was soon going to be a loosing battle.

Kagome ran at full speed panting her dwindling wishes to not scar the perfect smooth skin of her back. For so long she had managed to keep it untouched by leather that howled against the air and snapped when it made contact with something, and now it seemed like nothing would save her.

As she jumped over the fence that encircled the gardens she stuffed her cloak and basket under a thick bush and ran to into the house. The kitchen smelled of beef and steaming vegetables, and the stink of onions not far away. Kagome hated their stench, and quickly went to the fire where the smoke smelled of roasting beef and burning wood.

"Kagome," a voice called from the dinning area. After a short gasp she jumped to her feet holding the air in her lungs until she came to the doorway and stood tall and proper before the family as they stuffed the tender beef into the gaping dark holes in their faces.

"Varanese, ma'am?" she spoke, and watched as the old woman's eyes stared at her, glittering with an evil curiosity.

"Where have ye been all day, girl? The last time I saw ye this day was in the gardens."

Kagome stood tall to hide her lie and looked at her straight in the eye controlling all of her fear. "Working, Ma'am, with Cookie."

Then the woman's eyes turned a hellish grey as she plopped the bone stripped of it's tender meat on her plate and stomped over to the girl and pinched her cheek hard. Kagome winced and brought her fingers to her cheek to rub away the pain. "That is a lying smirk on yon face. I can see it clear as day. You went to see those gypsies in the city today even though I told ye not to."

The old hag slapped her other cheek hard enough to bring her too the floor. Kagome tried to hold back her tears and sobs and turned to look up at the old woman to fight for her defense. It was then that the old woman grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her through the dinning room and the kitchen to the barn.

She then opened the small shed next to the barn, and threw her into it. "You wanted to go out, and now ye are not out. Pray your rags will keep you warm on such a cold spring night for no fire will until sunrise, nor will food and drink until morning."

With that the woman slammed the door and locked her in the dark shed. With a click of the latch the door was locked and Kagome sat in the darkness, weeping bitterly into her hands as her legs gave out underneath her and she curled into a ball on the floor.

For an hour or so she stayed like that in the darkness, listening to the crickets and the night owls hoot. She still let tears fall form her eyes even though her sobbing was over with moments before.

_The brightest star in the sky_

_I'll pick one for you_

_And when you see it_

_Your wish will come true_

_Know that I'm here_

_There's nothing to fear_

_Oh daughter of mine_

_So sweet and fine_

_Father is here_

_No matter where_

_I'll be there_

_In the brightest star in the sky_

The lullaby soothed her, as she reminded herself of her father's promise to one day come back for her. It was all she could remember. There was more to the song, but she never could remember what it was.

As she hummed the song to herself she slowly began to drift off to sleep, until something in the darkness startled her. The sound of footsteps made her stir and she sat up looking at the cracks in the wall of the shed to see a moving shadow block the light from peeking through.

It was then that there was a voice that broke the rhythms of the night. "You sure this is the place? This family owns the diamond necklace your family once owned?"

The figure moved and Kagome jumped slightly, but made no sudden noises.

"Of course this is it! I wouldn't mistake this place even if I was blind. This is the home of the guy who stole my grandfather's fortuned Gypsy Diamond, the treasure of my family, and now that the old geezer is dead I'm getting it back."

The other voice spoke, and now Kagome could tell that it was that of a child's. "You'll never get away with this. I've heard rumors of the Lupo family here in Rome; they have hunters and all sorts of horrible creatures working for them. They'll find you, and hang you for sure, and then what will you do?"

There was a snort as the other voice said, "Shippo, the cards show no sign of death for me. The Lupo Family will never even know I took it."

The man then looked at the house. "Now, stay here and keep watch. You know the signal to call if there is any trouble."

With that the cloaked man slithered to the mansion and quickly looked over the door to the kitchen. "Idiots…they have the largest diamond known and no guards to even protect the doorways at night? They really are dumb."

A simple wire was pulled from his pocket as he began to unlock the door with small moves.

Kagome quietly moved toward the shed door to peek through a crack in the door and watch as the green cloaked figure opened the door.

_'I have to do something! Maybe if I catch him, Varanese will not be so hard on me in the morning.'_

Quickly Kagome tried to look around the slightly dark shed to see what to limited amount of moonlight could aid her in finding something to get her out of there.

_'Don't make any sudden noise; otherwise the boy will warn him. I have to make sure the one inside has no warning.'_

Inside, the thief was slowly making his way through the sleeping bodies of cooks, work aids, and maids as he drew closer to the doorway that lead to the dining room.

* * *

Once there he looked at the silver candle stick holders. _'Tempting! These could feed quiet a few in Romania.'_

Without a second thought he bagged the two silver staffs and made his way through the rest of the house.

He slowly made his way to the library and smirked, '_Yeah, right! Like the Lupo family has ever read a book in the last three generations.'_

Slowly he began to knock on the shelves of books and tap on the walls quietly. _'Come on, let Daddy know where you're hiding.'_

* * *

Kagome shifted around in the small shed as quietly as possible as the young watch keeper grumbled and yawned as he began to nod off. Slowly Kagome made her move, as she picked up a piece of wire used for the chicken coop. Slowly she curved it and brought it around the latch. Slowly and as quietly as she could, she began to try and lift the latch in order to make her way out and warn her mistress's family, or at least try and catch the thief who was in their home.

_'I'll never look at gypsies the same way again after this,'_ she thought to herself and she struggled with the wire lifting it up to try and jiggle the latch upward to open the door.

* * *

The thief within looked over books and knocked against some of them listening to the sounds each one made. The sound from a row of red encyclopedias caught his attention as he leaned in to listen again to the different hallow sound. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

Slowly, he took hold of the top of the fake books and pulled them away to reveal a small iron box with a keyhole lock in the dead center. "Ah, now this isn't too suspicious at all now is it?"

He reached into the pouch and pulled out two crocked pieces of wire and began to work at the lock. "The Lupo family really has no idea who they stole this thing from now do they?"

It took all but a moment before there was a loud click and the thief smiled to himself as he opened the small door to find his prize. "Ah, there you are. I think it's time we took you home, huh?"

In the moonlight, the large fist sized, pear cut, rock shined as the thief took it into his leather gloved hand and held it close to his amethyst eyes. "Hello, sweetheart! Did the bastards treat you well that past few years, or have they keep your beauty in the dark too long?"

Slowly, he reached for his velvet pouch and wrapped his fist around an exact copy of the gem. "Glass is such a wonderful thing to have these days."

* * *

Kagome grit her teeth as the last tiny bit of the latch gave her trouble before finally slipping out of the slot and opening the door.

Shippo snorted as Kagome dodged out and the two of them looked at each other for a spilt second in fear.

Kagome took a deep breath and ran for the house, as Shippo reached for his shirt and pulled out a tiny wooden whistle and blew a high pitched note.

The thief jumped and it disrupted his train of thought. He heard movement as someone screeched and other's yelled as they asked what the sound was.

"Stupid kid, he fucking panicked again."

Slipping the gem and it's glass copy into the velvet pouch, he pulled his cloak around him and ran down the hall, as he began to hear dog bark outside in the back as someone ordered them to be set loose immediately.

Kagome stumbled into the kitchen and then to the door that lead into the house, and before she knew it she had run into the very man she was trying to catch in the act. She gasped as she fell back and he fell into her mistress's dining chair and broke it.

He shook his head and looked at the young girl before him gasping only for a moment, as she scrambled to her feet. "Don't move! Whatever it is you have taken from my mistress, give it back and go quietly to your grave."

The thief laughed with confidence as he got up quickly not even giving the girl a second look. "I don't listen to young milk maids."

She grabbed his cloak and tried to bring him down to the ground again, and as she pushed and struggled he made poor attempts of trying to pry her off of him. "Let go girl, or I'll have to take you with me."

"Drop dead!" she hissed.

"Suit yourself!"

And with that he let her pull him to the ground, and it disrupted her thought long enough for him to pry her hands off and pin them above her head as he looked at her from above. Yet the movement made his hood fall off his head and the moonlight light up his face.

Kagome gasped as her auburn eyes met amethyst. His widened as well when her face came into the light.

"You!" they whispered in unison.

It was him, the prince, the one that had tried to tell her the fortune she had no money to pay for, Inu-yasha.

The moment only lasted a few seconds, until they heard Varanese's voice scream, "The Diamond! Robbery, we have been robbed! My husband's gem has been stolen from the strong hold."

"Shit!" Inu-yasha cursed as he struggled to his feet leaving Kagome balling into a heap on the floor to try and protect herself if he was going to try anything.

He merely stumbled as he made his way to the window and pulled his hood over his face again, looking back at her for only a moment as she looked at him through the moonlight, and just as easily as he had appeared, he vanished into the night as he slipped out the window and was gone.

Varanese's cries continued as Kagome continued to stare at the open window. She looked at the ground as something glimmered, and picked it up. She gasped as she got to her feet. "Oh my goodness!" she said as she held the gem to her face.

Suddenly, one of the dogs jumped up on the window with its front paws and barked furiously at her. She screamed and took a step back into the dinning room table.

Five candles came into the room, Lady Varanese gasping for air and her family along with Kouga close behind her.

All eyes fell on Kagome as she held the stone in her open hands and the dog barked at her.

Kagome snapped out of her shock and looked to her mistress. "Milady, the thief, he's escaped through the window."

But all eyes stayed on her, and Varanese's panic stricken eyes turned dark and her face red with rage. Her bony hand came up in less than a second and hit Kagome's cheek and ear hard enough to throw her to the floor. The gem rolled from her hands and Kagome tried to cover the area that burned with pain.

"You little bitch!" Varanese hissed.

Kagome's eyes filled with tears of pain and fear.

"You dare try and steal my husband's prized jewel?" she growled before ripping the bonnet from Kagome's hair and grabbing a hand full of her raven hair. Kagome cried in pain as Varanese dragged her to the wall and grabbed hold of the cable horsewhip above the fireplace next to wear the family ate dinner.

"Antonio," she directed to her son, "break the cords in the back of her dress and undergarments; I want to see the skin of her yellow spine."

Kagome's tears turned into cries of, "no" and mercy as Antonio wasted no time lifting her dress and his wife aided him in pulling away the undergarments. He held her, and his wife backed away to spare the youngest eyes in the family, which were her two young sons.

Kagome wept bitterly as she heard Varanese hiss, "Cry all you want, you're father will never come for you now."

With, a loud crack cut through the air and struck her back, followed by four more. Each one felt like it took years and her tears fell from her eyes slowly making it hard to see, not that she could see anything with her face looking at a brick wall.

When it was over, she couldn't hear anyone's voices except her own as she was taken outside by servants and locked back into the shed she had tried to escape from.

"I want the police to be called immediately, and for her to be hanged for what she has done."

Kagome cried as she wept on the wooden floor of the cold shed her back pulsing in pain. How did this happen? How did it happen so fast? She shouldn't have even touched it, she shouldn't have even picked up the damn jewel on the floor. Now her fate was sealed. Death was now at the door instead of her father.

There was no one to save her now.

No one…

"Kagome," a voice in the shadows said. "Child quickly you must get on your feet!"

Kagome pulled her black hair away from her face as her teary eyes found the worried face of Alessandro, the gardener.

He took hold of her arm and helped her up. "We do not have time to talk. You must eave this place."

Kagome looked up at him in fear. "Leave? Alessandro, I have no where to go."

"But you cannot stay here, only death waits for you here in Rome, now. You must not stay here any more."

Kagome held back tears. "I didn't do it though! It was a gypsy…a boy!"

Alessandro looked behind him for anyone who might be watching. "I believe you, but this will not change the Mistress of this House's mind. You must flee, Kagome and run as far from here as you can lest you die hear for a crime you did not commit."

Kagome tried to catch her breath and think. "What do I do? Where do I go?"

"Run, run anywhere as long as you are far from this hell."

Kagome's eyes looked up at the old man as he took her hand and led her to the woods behind the house as servants rushed to aid the family and announce that the police carriage was not far down the road.

Alessandro looked at Kagome with heartfelt eyes. "Go, Kagome! Leave this place and find your family, for there is no prayer for you here as long as you are in Varanese's eye." Alessandro kissed her forehead and gripped her hand a moment before letting it go as Kagome took two steps back not wanting to take her eyes off the only person who had ever been kind to her. Her only vision of family.

"Alessandro," she whispered for what would be the last time she would ever say his name again to him.

"Go!" he growled, "Do not look back, look to the path your heart guilds you for it will be your only ally now."

Kagome shook her head as tears formed in her eyes again.

"Here they!" come a man cried, and Kagome froze.

"GO NOW, CHILD!" Alessandro hissed, and Kagome fled into the woods, into darkness, into an unknown future and destiny with only a fear for her life and a face of the man who destroyed everything she had ever known.

She only ran straight through the night, not stopping for even a moment to rest. Kagome just kept on going as she cries and branches cut her legs and face and ripped her clothing.

She only continued to run, not knowing what drove her to continue or what force kept her moving.

And then after hours of running in the darkness, her feet failed her and she tumbled a ways before her body came to a halt at something hard and covered with earth, but she was too exhausted to care as fatigue gained the upper hand and took her, and there in the dark she collapsed, feeling pain in her back and leg.

No where to run, no where to go, she was lost in an unknown world, with no one at her side.

"Papa…Papa…" we're her only words as she lost conscious of everything around. Not that it mattered; to her everything was nothingness itself.

* * *

There you go guys! Chapter 2…I finally got my groove into the story and now things are picking up.

Leave a review! The more I get the more I know people like this story, the more I make sure I update more often.

So you see that, down there?

It's telling you! CLICK ME!

SDR


	3. Chapter 3 The Fool

**Prince of the Dancing Gypsies**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

They had left Rome before dawn that day, and Inu-yasha and his traveling party had agreed to take the route less traveled by which was a short cut through the woods towards Romania. It was a forgotten road known only to those few who needed it to escape to safer ground, mainly the gypsies that made their way in and out of Italy everyday. It was also a road used for the black market traders, and smugglers that brought their forbidden trades into and out of the land.

Though this party was alone this morning, they had made their way out of Rome quite silently and without notice soon after Inu-yasha's return late that night. It only took them a moment to pack and move on. Ash Wednesday was upon them and the church ruled supreme in Rome that morning and for the next forty days and nights.

The caravan of five carriages moved in a straight organized line, the largest one being pulled by two large Clydesdales with dark brown coats in the front with blinds pulled over the sides of the carriage as aid them in going unnoticed by any eyes that might be watching.

The other four carriages held the rest of the party. Carmella with her magic crystal ball, the oldest woman among them with the power to see into the distant future was in the second of these with her magenta and purple robes draping her from head to toe so that you could only see the grey old wrinkled eyes of an old woman.

Larissa was with her in the back studying her own crystal ball since she was a student of Carmella, along with many of the other girls who kept quiet as they stared out at the road and the other carriages behind them. Some chanted and purified their cards after telling fifty or so fortunes in the last day. Though, the silence of the girls drove Larissa crazy enough, to make her pass through Carmella's quarters. She grinned at the old woman who glared up at her for a moment, since the girl had made her loose her concentration, and then slipped to the front and sat beside Alonzo who had the reins of the two dark steeds that pulled them.

He looked at her and blushed and turned an even darker shade of red when she smiled at him and sat down beside him with pulling her knees to her chest to look at the horses. Alonzo's face was still red when he turned to look back at the road.

"How long before we get back to Romania, Alonzo?" she asked him sweetly.

He struggled to find words. "According to the prince…I think about three weeks if nothing goes wrong."

Larissa frowned as she turned to look at the road. "I was hoping it would be sooner."

Noise started in the back of the wagon and Larissa turned to the side to see what all the commotion was about. She peaked around the bend and saw a white, brown spotted horse ride quickly along side them and slow down once it got along side her and Alonzo. The rider grinned as the white dog behind him jumped off the horse's rump and into Larissa's lap. "Oh, Ranger!" she growled as the happy dog lapped at her face. Annoyed, Larissa shifted over making Alonzo a little stiffer in his seat as the dog panted happily beside the both of them.

Inu-yasha laughed as he stared at Larissa's annoyance, knowing that Alonzo would also secretly in his own way be thanking him later.

"You and you're stupid dog," she hissed.

"At least he and I have something in common," he said.

"Oh, a liking for the ladies, I suppose? It would make sense, seeing as you knocked that wench off her feet last night at the bar before you disappeared on her just as she was starting to warm up to you." she teased.

Alonzo snorted as he tried to suppress his laughter. He cleared his throat as soon as he caught his friend's glare. Larissa only smiled evilly at him.

"She wasn't my type," Inu-yasha said simply holding his head up and turning his nose to the air. "Besides, I had things to take care of." Inu-yasha smiled as he reached into his side pouch and pulled out the large gem he carried within it.

Larissa rolled her eyes. "So you got your stupid rock back from the man's family who stole it from you. What do you think it makes you, the greatest thief on earth now?"

Inu-yasha admired the gem in his leather gloved hand with a smile. "Not really…a master thief is never caught."

Alonzo shot his head to the side, his eyes wide with shock. "You were caught?"

Larissa put her feet down and leaned forward to see him past the panting dog. "Did the mistress see you? One of the family?"

Inu-yasha gripped his prize in his hand and shrugged a shoulder. "A house maid of some sort, just a girl. Met her at the fair yesterday, wanted someone to read her cards."

Alonzo raised a brow in curiosity. "What did her reading say?"

Inu-yasha looked at them not completely sure what to say. "She had no money on her so I couldn't give her a reading."

Larissa scoffed, "Ha! Like that ever stopped you before from reading someone's cards after they left the room. I've seen you! You have nothing to hide from these eyes, Your Highness."

Inu-yasha sneered, "Then why don't you get your crystal ball and look? You're learning from Carmella, aren't you?"

Just then the old woman's hand came out from behind them, and a ring covered old hand with small gems on each one. "I foresee a great trail ahead for the higher blood among us."

The old woman looked at them all, and Larissa looked at her teacher. "What have you seen?"

"I have seen…a cranky old woman if you youngsters don't keep it down out here," the old woman hissed. The currant closed behind them and the three of them sighed as they turned to look at the road.

Inu-yasha snorted as he looked over his shoulder, thinking of the girl he had seen at the fair and last night as he broke into the mansion to steal the diamond. He couldn't help, but see her scared face in his head now as the reading came into his mind. A time of great despair and trails was in her future, and the only thing that could save her was something dealing with what Lovers had symbolized. It usually meant that one would need to base things on the facts not the emotions. It meant love that would not be good for her well being. A love that she would have to let go of or discover not to be real at all.

Yet, how this would save her he did not know. But her face stayed in his head wondering why she had taken his mind all of the sudden at that very moment. He had been cursed to face this now as long as the Gypsy Diamond was in his possession, such is its curse. It was the single object that brought his father to fall in love with his mother, and the very same object that brought about his demise.

Her face would not leave his mind, nor would the pull in his chest. He wondered…would she survive any of this?

"Hello? Inu-yasha? Hello?" a feminine voice came into his thoughts, and he turned to look at Larissa once again.

"You look lost in your thoughts today. More than normal," she said with concern.

"It's nothing," she grumbled.

Alonzo looked at him and then at the road. "Perhaps you should consult your cards tonight and discover what you can do to clear your mind? A meditation perhaps?"

Inu-yasha snored as he looked at the reins in his hand and loosened his grip on them for a moment. "Nothing can cure me of these thoughts…I know that all too well," he said low enough for them not to hear him clearly.

Suddenly, Ranger's hectic panting stopped and his ears perked up. His nose lifted to smell the soft breeze that crossed it, sniffing the scent of something that tickled his mind. The dog began to whine and look to the woods on Alonzo's side. Larissa looked at him, "What's wrong with your dog?"

Inu-yasha turned and watched Ranger as he stood on all fours and barked, making the horse nervous.

"Ranger, quiet," Inu-yasha commanded, but the dog was still uneasy and not a second sooner whined and barked even louder.

"Ranger," Inu-yasha sneered, but the dog continued and this time groaned. The dog finally barked deep enough to scare the horses in the caravan, and all come to a halt and whinnied as they lost their order. Soon others popped their head out of the carriages and looked around.

"What is going on back there?" Andrei yelled as he stood and looked around the front of the head carriage, the two Clydesdales both uneasy as the snorted and groaned, their reins gripped in their master's large fist.

Ranger growled and barked as he jumped over Alonzo and Larissa and ran off into the woods. Inu-yasha watched as his crazed dog run like the wind deep into the woods and turned his horse around.

"Andrei, Alonzo, get this caravan back in order."

Larissa looked at him. "Where are you going?" she called out him as his horse crossed in front of their steeds. "To find out what's gotten to my _'stupid dog',_" he mocked.

Ranger's speed of course was never something to take for granted. The dog was always good out running the fast horse they had, which Inu-yasha made a point of making his own since he could at least track the dog or see him from a far distance.

It had only taken a minute or two before Ranger slowed down and looked down into a ditch were a flat stone laid at the bottom. He wined and barked at the object below, trying to get its attention. He wined as he watched it remain motionless.

Ranger paced in worry as the sound of his hooves belonging to his master's horse got louder. He finally clumsily slid is say down the sallow ditch and jumped up on the rock where the motionless body was. He began to whimper as he looked at the face scratched my tree branches and covered in long strands of black hair. He snorted and then proceeded to lick the face before him.

* * *

A soft moan escaped her throat, as Kagome saw for a moment a white, happy dog's yipping face, before falling into the same darkness that has taken her before. The last thing she heard was the sound of a horse's hooves and the muffled sound of what might have been the dog's name, along with the cries for help a moment later.

When her mind came out of its darkness again, she heard a woman's voice humming a soft song. Her eyes hurt when she tried to open them and the blur of a single lit candle was the first thing she saw. It took her a moment to true register where she was now, for the last thing she could recall was being in the woods and falling into the freezing cold of night.

She sat up quickly as gasped once she realized she was not in the same place as before. Kagome's eyes wandered the room and she gripped the animal hide blanket around her. "Where am I?" she whispered in fear, and then looked down at where she had been lying not a moment before and at then at her own state. Her clothing was gone, and she was stark naked under the animal hide blanket that was her only source of modesty.

"My clothing…I've been robbed? Pirates? I must have been picked up by men."

Just then a curtain was pulled away and a woman's face appeared. She her graying hair was tied back in a bun with a head band around her head made of purple silk and tied at the side. Her shoulders were bared by her shirt and her skirt came just bellow her knees where three silver anklets chimed as she took a step into the space Kagome was in.

Their eyes met, soft aging green eyes met hazel, bluish brown. Kagome relaxed a little when she saw the woman before her. "Ah, you've awakened! The ladies and I were beginning to worry that you would not awake for another tree days."

Kagome didn't say a word as she tried her best to still calm herself from the shock of her surroundings.

"You must be hungry, no?"

Kagome looked at the kind soft faced woman and nodded slowly as she pulled the animal hide around her more and her knees to her chest.

The woman smiled sweetly and left for only a moment before she slipped away for a moment through another opening on the other side of the room, to the outdoors.

There was a soft commotion right before the woman returned with a wooden bowl of stew and a gold cup filled with goat's milk. "Here, child," she said as she handed the food to her slowly. Kagome took them slowly at first, and cautiously tasted the soup's beef broth before spooning it greedily into her mouth. The milk dribbled down her chin a little and so did the broth which she wiped off with the back of her hand and arm.

She finished the bowl until it was clean and held it out to her caretaker. "More? Please? I have not eaten since the last day I can remember. My meal wasn't large either."

The woman took the bowl from her with a frown, and smiled sweetly as she nodded. "What is your name, child?"

Kagome finished her goat's milk and handed the cup over to her. "Kagome," she said as she tried to catch her breath from eating so fast.

The woman's face seemed to glow in the soft candle light, like this woman was her angel. "Eldonza is mine. Have no fear, Kagome, you among friends here."

She left again only to return with more food, and this time with bread.

Kagome looked around once again as she picked at her bread. "Where am I?"

Eldonza hummed as she began to sew her needle though a piece of cloth. "You are in the woods, where you were found just the same. Only you are some ways away from where our master's dog found you."

Kagome looked at her wide eyed. "A dog?"

Eldonza nodded, "You were found in a ditch with a cut in your leg and with burses and scratches on your face and arms. Your clothing is a mess, so you will have to have new ones made for you which the ladies are putting together for you on the other side of this tent."

Kagome thought for a moment about what she had told her a moment before, and then shook it off. _'It couldn't be…my luck can't be that bad.'_

Eldonza slowly came over to her. "I'm just going to look over your injuries."

She lifted the blanket looking over her leg and then covering it up looked at her face and arms. When she had turned to look at her back Kagome hid it from her. "No, don't do anymore with those injuries."

Eldonza looked at her perplexed and then her face showed concern and wonder. "Those injuries…are not from the forest are they?"

Kagome did not answer and put the food down on the ground before wrapping her body in the animal hide. "They're the mark I have to bare for a crime I did not commit."

Eldonza looked at her still perplexed. "Do you know who did this to you?"

Kagome swallowed hard and gripped the animal hide around her breasts as the feeling of memories of pain and sadness came back to her.

"One of you…one of your kind tried to steal something from my mistress's home. She found me instead and scarred my back. I was to be put to death in the morning for a crime I did not do."

Eldonza's eyes filled with sadness and she lowered her head apologetically, "I ask that you find peace and forgiveness then for this."

Kagome's eyes turned cold. "I was left alone to face this. Abandoned…I will not find peace until I get my life back and my father fulfils his promise to me. I need to find a way back, but I must also clear my name of this. Otherwise I can never go home."

Eldonza looked at her as the young woman before her turned cold and full of sadness and anger. "Life under your mistress's whip is a place you wish to be rather than free from what pain she put on you?"

Kagome looked at her, understanding what she had said, but at the same time feeling trapped. "I've known no other life."

Eldonza's smile warmed the room once again; bringing comfort to Kagome's feeling loss. "The fool is one who is presented with many paths to take. The path taken is up to the fool, but only one path can lead to true enlightenment."

Kagome felt lost in what this woman was trying to tell her.

She laughed, "Perhaps during your time here I shall teach you the cards. If you wish to hide from whoever is hunting you, you should at least look like you are not the one they seek, no?"

Eldonza rose to her feet and went to the other side of the tent where the ladies giggled and gossiped. "Enough of this, what evil are you all whispering?"

The girls looked up trying to suppress their laughter. "Some of us have though that the young lord may be fond of this girl," one whispered.

"No girl that the master has found has ever been brought back to our camps. Usually, he has left them at the house of another to be aided."

Eldonza wrinkled her nose, "Humph, there are no houses safe for that around here for that matter, and to say such things about the prince is not allowed."

"But Lady Eldonza, he is coming of age and soon she will want to find a bride."

Eldonza walked over to the opening opposite of the side Kagome was on. She looked back at all the girls. "The prince has no desire to be wed to one woman, all of that is known to all of us. His charm is merely too woo a woman of fortune, have her invite him to her bed, and then take what possessions she has that is of value. It has been is way since the death of his father and the only way he can find to make sure we are all in good health."

Eldonza slipped through the opening and sighed. "Such is the curse of any son of mine."

As she walked through the camp to find more bread for herself and the rest of the young girls, Ranger wobbled up to her. She petted the dog's head as he sat at her side and she found her son sitting on the back of the wagon looking up at the stars. "The stars show trouble. I shouldn't have brought that girl back with me."

Eldonza looked at the dog as Ranger leaned into her side. "You care for her…that's good."

Inu-yasha looked at her. "I found a girl in the woods unconscious, and that makes me suddenly care for her?"

Eldonza looked at him. "She spoke of you…She is the maid who tried to stop you isn't she?"

Inu-yasha gave her no answer, and jumped off the wagon.

"She has been charged with your crime. I suggest she comes with us."

"No, we dump her at the nearest town. I won't have bounty hunters on my tail. I got what I wanted."

Inu-yasha stomped off and then stopped feeling his mother's eyes on him.

"You feel it don't you?" she said. "The guilt of another man's crime?"

Inu-yasha ran his hands through his hair before resting them at his hips.

"Such is the curse of the Gypsy Diamond. It was guilt that led your father to me, guilt that haunted that other man when he killed him, and now guilt curses you until you discover the way to restore this woman's life."

Inu-yasha's eyes met his mother's. "The curse only leads to death."

Ranger nuzzled and licked Eldonza's hand. "Yes…but it can also bring life."

Eldonza slowly made her way back to the tent and sat at Kagome's side. She hummed again as the young girl turned to her side to sleep.

A moment later the tent parted and Inu-yasha stood in the room. Kagome sat up as soon as she heard his voice. "She can stay," she said softly.

She sat up and looked at the man towering over her and their eyes met. Both hearts skipped a beat as they recognized eyes that each had seen twice before, but that was before Kagome's turned cold with hate.

"You," she hissed.

Forgetting her nudeness completely, Kagome spring from her bed and tackled him to the ground outside of the tent. "You bastard! How dare you do this to me, you thief! You monster!"

Her angered cries echoed, catching everyone's attention in the camp as the men began to gather along with a few of the children which were soon pulled away by their mother's or had their eyes shielded.

Inu-yasha finally pinned her to the ground the same way he had the night before. "How dare you?" she hissed.

Inu-yasha panted heavily for a moment before smirking at her. "You really are stubborn. You haven't even realized you just feel out in to a crowd of prying eyes with nothing to cover your modesty."

Kagome's panting stopped and she held her breath as she found herself straddled by the man above her in the nude. With thoughts of what he might be thinking and the sudden awareness of what was around her. She screamed as some men began to laugh.

"Let me go!" she cried.

"Why? And not finished what you've started?" he teased.

Kagome growled and wriggled her hands out of his grasp as he kneeled up between her legs. "Go on, you heard her boys, avert your eyes. There's nothing to see here anyway."

Some men laughed at Inu-yasha's insult as Kagome covered her breasts and tried to cover the red of her self as she curled into a blushing ball in the dirt.

Feeling all the shame she had ever felt in her life, Kagome tried to block out all sounds of laughter in her ears, but since her hands were being used to cover what she needed to hide, she could not.

He had brought shame on her again.

It was then that she felt a blanket wrap around her, a silk one embroidered with beads and colored threads. He kneeled before her looked into her glaring eyes. "Lift your arms so I can wrap this around you. Their eyes have not seen anything."

She glared at him. "Why should I trust you?"

He smirked. "The only one who has truly seen your body is me, and only for a moment in the dirt here where I used my own body to cover yours."

Kagome looked at him and then grabbing the blanket herself she wrapped it around her body. "I hope you enjoyed it, because it will be the only time your eyes will ever see it."

His smirk and slight laugh made her look up at him again once she secured the wrap in a knot. "I have seen the bodies of woman before, some of societies fairest. Do you think yours can stand up to any of that?"

Kagome wasn't sure how to react. Part of her felt hurt and another part of her felt insulted, though she couldn't understand the feeling of disappointment when he did not say that her body was fair. She suddenly felt ugly and tried to hide herself even more from his eyes that seemed to be looking right through her.

Her glare of annoyance was her only response. _'I truly hate you.'

* * *

_

Well that's enough for now.

We'll see what the next chapter brings later on.

Hope this was good. Let me know what you liked and didn't like in this chapter.


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